2013 NBA Coaching Carousel Tracker

Death and taxes have ranked one-two in the certainty department for an awfully long time, but if there's a potential third entry, it's the inevitable NBA coaching carousel that happens annually.

Every spring, NBA teams get a chance to either enjoy their achievements or assess the damage. When it's the latter, the axe often falls on the head coach.

We'll keep you caught up on every head coaching move between now and the end of the postseason right here. When somebody gets a pink slip, we'll tell you who's in line to replace them.

Plenty of big names are still out there. So we'll keep tabs on who they're talking to and where they might land. Whether it's a hot assistant looking for a new gig or a veteran on the hunt for a final stop, we'll keep you up to date on every NBA head coaching move.

Before you read on to explore the teams still in need of a head coach, as well as the top candidates to fill those positions, please note the following hires that have already occurred:

Philadelphia 76ers

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After an exhaustive season came and went without a single minute of action from 2012 offseason addition Andrew Bynum, Philadelphia 76ers coach Doug Collins resigned with one year and $4.5 million left on his contract.

With Bynum set to hit the free-agent market and rising All-Star Jrue Holiday getting traded to the New Orleans Pelicans on draft night, the Sixers appear to be bracing for a potentially lengthy rebuild.

Per Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Sixers have now received permission from the Heat to speak with Fizdale.

Melvin Hunt

John Mitchell of The Philadelphia Enquirerreports that the Sixers are "considering talking" with the Denver Nuggets assistant, Melvin Hunt. Stein had previously mentioned Hunt as a possible candidate for Philadelphia.

According to Broussard Sam Hinkie is still intrigued by prospect of hiring hunt, in addition to Pinckney and Griffin. Spears says that the Sixers have already contacted Denver in an attempt to speak with him.

Ed Pinckney

ESPN's Chris Broussard writes that the Sixers asked for and received permission to speak with Bulls assistant Ed Pinckney.

Adrian Griffin

Broussard also says the Sixers have received permission to talk with Adrian Griffin as well, another Bulls assistant.

Brett Brown

According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Philadelphia 76ers have requested permission to interview San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown.

Brown has been already been interviewed by the Nuggets and is quickly becoming a sought-after coaching candidate.

Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News reported on June 27 that Brown will indeed be the next head coach of the Sixers, but Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express News reports that Brown has not been offered the job, nor has he even interviewed.

This should play itself out before too much longer, and while Brown is under consideration, nothing is finalized.

Michael Curry

Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Enquirerreports that Collins' associate head coach, Curry, has been mentioned as a potential candidate to take over the Sixers head-coaching job.

According to Comcast SportsNet's Dei Lynam adds that Curry will be coaching Philly's summer league team.

RealGM.com's Shams Charania had previously reported that Curry said he would be interviewing for the position.

Chris Finch

Howard Eskin of Philadelphia's Fox 29 reports that he's been told Houston Rockets assistant Chris Finch is leading the race to become the Sixers next coach.

Kelvin Sampson

Mitchell reports that the Sixers have received permission to interview Houston Rockets assistant Kelvin Sampson.

What They're After

Philly's draft night acquisitions of Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel (out indefinitely rehabbing a torn ACL) indicate that new general manager Sam Hinkie will handle this reclamation project the same way he's taking this coaching search: slow and methodical.

Look for the Sixers to target a candidate with a strong player development background. Holiday was the closest thing they had to an untouchable player, so his departure could be the first of multiple roster shakeups.

And look for the Sixers' next coach to seek out some decent contract protection. It's going to take a while to get this team headed back up the standings.

Boston Celtics

After Doc Rivers, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers finalized an agreement to allow Rivers to coach in L.A., the C's must now find a new head coach to lead their rebuilding efforts.

According to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, the team will take its time in finding a new head coach.

A. Sherrod Blakely of Comcast SportsNet reports that Celtics president Danny Ainge has some candidates already in mind, but is "not prepared" to identify whom he's considering yet.

Chris Foresberg of ESPNBoston.com reports that Ainge is content to take his coaching search slow, stating only that he's looking for, "a Michael Jordan" coach.

According to an official press release by the Celtics, the team hired Butler's Brad Stevens as its head coach on July 3.

Potential Candidates

Vinny Del Negro

Yes, the same coach who was not retained by the Clippers after a franchise-defining regular season is now a candidate to join the Celtics.

According to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald, Del Negro will receive "serious consideration" for the head coaching spot. That would certainly be interesting.

Brett Brown

Baxter Homes of The Boston Globereports that San Antonio Spurs long-time assistant coach Brett Brown is "extremely" interested in coaching the Celtics.

Lawrence Frank

Could one of Rivers' old assistants replace him in Boston? Per Holmes, Frank's name is also on the Celtics' radar.

Jay Larranaga

The Celtics will consider "several younger and lower-profile candidates" like current assistant Jay Larranaga, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

ESPN's Marc Stein adds that Larranaga will coach the team in summer league, and that's being seen as an "audition" to see if he can replace Doc Rivers.

What They're After

The Celtics want to find a new head coach who can be committed to the team rebuilding, likely around Rajon Rondo. Finding the right coach to mesh with their best player will be of paramount importance. They're also looking for a discount from the $7 million they didn't want to pay Rivers next season.

Nate McMillan

According to Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star, McMillan met with Pacers head coach Frank Vogel to discuss joining Indiana as an assistant.

Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports McMillan is finalizing an agreement to be the Pacers' top assistant.

The Pacers have confirmed McMillan's hire, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

What He's After

McMillan has spent his coaching career talking about defense, so he'd probably prefer a team that has size inside and athleticism on the perimeter. His teams haven't really supported the notion that he's a top defensive coach, though.

Gentry's four-plus-year stay with the Phoenix Suns came to a screeching halt with his midseason firing, but that may have had more to do with the post-Steve Nash overhaul in Phoenix than it did with Gentry's coaching style.

Lionel Hollins

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Potential Suitors

The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers are Hollins only chances at returning to the head coaching ranks, otherwise he may look to latch on as an assistant coach for a team looking to flesh out its staff.

What He's After

He'll probably seek out a situation that resembles the one he had with Memphis as much as possible. That'll mean a squad with a capable big man in the middle and a clear commitment to defense.

None of his current suitors meet those criteria, but it'd probably be pretty hard to pass up a gig that involved coaching Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

Vinny Del Negro

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Potential Suitors

Boston Celtics

The Boston Herald's Mark Murphy reported Vinny Del Negro "will receive serious consideration" when the Celtics coaching position became vacant, but one source described Del Negro to Murphy as a "stopgap" without foreseeable long-term prospects in Boston.

What He's After

Left without a job after leading the Los Angeles Clippers to their best record in franchise history, Del Negro is going to entertain whatever teams express interest in him.

It would be in his best interest to land on a team that doesn't have a superstar at the forefront. Whether or not Chris Paul had a part in his firing in L.A., he has that stigma now and could use to work in a different type of locker room.

Jeff Van Gundy

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Interviews

None so far.

Potential Suitors

None.

What He's After

Van Gundy has been out of the coaching ranks since being fired by Houston after a first-round playoff exit in 2007. He has a broadcast job with ESPN to fall back on if the right position is not made available to him.

His teams qualified for postseason play in nine of his 11 seasons, meaning a rebuilding project might be out of the question.

Because of his track record of success, Stan Van Gundy has the luxury of picking his landing spot. That means he can wait around, do a few more radio shows and kick back if the situation isn't right for his return.

From what we know of SVG, the "right" situation is one that involves lots of veteran players who don't mind a hard-driving coach who's going to do plenty of yelling.

He hasn't shown much patience with rookies and simply doesn't tolerate goof-offs (unless said goof-offs are all-world defensive centers). The ideal landing spot for him is a team that has a stable, veteran environment with a front office that won't butt in when he cranks up the volume.